WWE SmackDown Live Results – January 31 2017

Hello and welcome to our SmackDown Live coverage! The Royal Rumble was less than 48 hours ago and Elimination Chamber is less than two weeks away, meaning the blue brand quickly has to ramp up some storylines and get the card in place. Therefore the next two weeks will be very interesting for SmackDown Live!

John Cena finally defeated AJ styles, one-on-one, and attained his historic sixteenth WWE Championship. Now, we already know that Elimination Chamber is the next PPV for SmackDown and Cena will have to put his belt on the line against five other men inside the steel structure. Who will those five men be? The best guess would be: AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, Baron Corbin, The Miz and Luke Harper. Of course, it seems like Corbin could be in line for an Intercontinental Championship match, so maybe he will be replaced by someone else but we should know the participants by the end of tonight.

Randy Orton won the Royal Rumble, in what came as a surprise to many. Orton knocked out Roman Reigns in order to win the Rumble and book his spot in a title match at WrestleMania. What many fans seemed to overlook is that WWE knows you do not like Roman Reigns and they also knew fans wouldn’t care for a Randy Orton win. How do you get fans to like a Randy win? Have Roman come in last, make it seem like he will win, then the fans will cheer for anyone else. And that’s exactly what happened, for once WWE very smartly played the fans. So as of now, Orton will face John Cena at WrestleMania but it seems highly unlikely that that is the match we will see – rumours suggest Bray will take the title at ‘Mania and thus set-up a showdown between the Wyatt Family. Although certainly there are still issues to settle with Luke Harper.

On tonight’s show, Alexa Bliss and Mickie James will face Naomi and Becky Lynch. Naomi is certainly next in line for a title shot at Alexa Bliss’ Women’s Championship, however the six-woman tag match at Royal Rumble suggests we might be getting the first-ever female Elimination Chamber. If that is the case, we should get an announcement tonight. Elsewhere, Dolph Ziggler is still turning to the dark side and he seems on a collision course with Apollo Crews. As well as that, Dean Ambrose has unsettled business with Baron Corbin and that could rear its head in tonights show.

That’s the rundown of tonight’s SmackDown. Are you excited for the show? Let us know in the comments, follow me on Twitter, download the Ringside News app, and enjoy the show!